Bakuon!! Anime Review : High School Girls on Motorcycle

Bakuon!! is a comedy anime about motorcycle club in high. The story is very comical and pretty much doesn’t represent real life in Japan. But I don’t think that is important because it is just an anime for entertainment after all. You just sit, enjoy the show and laugh all the way you want. This anime is extremely funny after all. The funniest anime of 2016 with no competition. The humor was so fresh because no other anime have this kind of theme. The anime was aired from April 2016 to June 2016 with total number episode of 12. In addition, 2 episode of OVA were also added. The first OVA released actually before the TV Series on March 2016 and the second OVA was released on December 2016.

Story
Starts with a female rider, Amano Onsa who rides a Yamaha Serrow to her school. On her way, Sakura Hane, another female student from the same school saw Onsa. Hane was on a bicycle and she thought it would be nice to ride a motorcycle because you don’t have to pedal uphill on her way to school. She meets Onsa again on school and the two quickly become a close friends. The two headed to motorcycle club and meet Raimu-senpai, the only member of motorcycle club. Raimu-senpai takes Hane on ride which impressed Hane a lot. Hane then decided to take a motorcycle license. On her motorcycle training school, Hane meets Suzunoki Rin, another high school student from to same school who is an extreme Suzuki fangirl. On the club again, all of them meet Minowa Hijiri, a student from the same school and a descendant of a very rich family. All of them, excluding Rin, revive the motorcycle club on their school.

In my opinion, the story is extremely funny. I can simply acknowledge this anime as the best comedy of the year of 2016. While being quite nonsense, the story is just too funny. Nothing on this anime can be taken seriously because there is no serious part.

Animation
Animation quality is actually very good although the character design isn’t quite my favorite. At first, I thought the animation was lacking. But after pay more attention later, they are actually very good. I was about to complain but it’s good to know that I was wrong about the animation quality.

Sound & Music
Sound quality is good. It’s more than just acceptable unlike the animation. The motorcycle engine is definitely good and the music is quite right on the choice and arrangement for every scene. But still, for an anime like this, I expect to sound effect to be better. Take a look at other anime(s) about vehicle like Girls und Panzer. The sound effect in Girls und Panzer is 2 stops better, making Bakuon!! pale in comparison. The theme song is something I won’t complain. The opening theme song is “Feel x Alive” by Sasaki Sayaka. A very good and fit into the intro scene nicely. The ending theme is 「ぶぉん! ぶぉん! らいど・おん!」 (Buon! Buon! Raido On!) performed by the seiyuus, Ueda Reina, Touyama Nao, Uchiyama Yumi, and Yamaguchi Rikako. This song is more like a fun song.

Characters & Voice Actors
There are 5 main characters in the story at the beginning but later, another character join as the main character. Reminds me of K-ON! where Azusa join the club in later part of the story.

Main Characters
Sakura Hane

Voiced by :Ueda Reina
Voice Acting Score : Very Good
A pure-hearted and innocent girl who know nothing about motorcycle at first. With Onsa’ and Raimu-senpai’s influence, Hane takes interest to motorcycle and join the club as initial member after the club has ceased for 20 years. She rides a pink Honda SU400 Super Four which she bought from Nikoichi, Amano’s family motorcycle shop.

Amano Onsa

Voiced by :Uchiyama Yumi
Voice Acting Score : Good
A girl who influenced Hane to join motorcycle club. Her family owns a used motorcycle shop. Her shop runs the business in dirty way and the motorcycles they sell are mostly in a bad condition. She rides Yamaha Serrow 225 and her bike is made from two Serrow bikes by taking and combining working parts from each bike. However, Onsa wants Hane to have a decent bike. Therefore, she works by herself to provide Hane with the best possible bike. Onsa is called “Moja” by Rin due to her hairstyle.

Suzunoki Rin

Voiced by :Touyama Nao
Voice Acting Score :Very Good
Rin is a blonde twin-tail girl whose life belongs to Suzuki. She has been a Suzuki fangirl with a Suzuki-loving virus running inside her blood. In one episode, Onsa was infected with this virus and the girl ended up confusing herself for loving Suzuki motorcycle. Rin rides Suzuki GX400 Katana which formerly used by her father. She always uses pink racing suit when riding her bike. Rin is actually not a member of motorcycle club. This is perhaps because she conflicts with Onsa quite often although her relation with Hane and Hijiri have no problem.

Minowa Hijiri

Voiced by :Yamaguchi Rikako
Voice Acting Score : Good
A descendant of Minowa family. A very wealthy family who never have problem with money. Hijiri can’t ride motorcycle by herself so she has her butler, Hayakawa to drive her everywhere. Later she learn how to ride a motorcycle with the help of her friends. Her own motorcycle is Honda Super Cub while the one Hayakawa use to drive her is Ducati 750SS Imola.

Kawasaki Raimu

The only character with no seiyuu because she never speaks at all. Well… She speaks using a paper though. She is the oldest in group, even older than the school principal. It is unknown why she always in the school. Her face is unknown because she always wear helmet and her age is also unknown. The only things clear is she rides Kawasaki Ninja ZX-12R and is a very rider. She used to be very fast racer who win many races before.

Supporting Characters

Sakura Yume (CV:Tadokoro Azusa), Hane’s little sister whose personality and reliability resembles Hirasawa Ui from K-ON!Nakano Chisame (CV:Kido Ibuki), Yume’s friend who joins motorcycle club later.Hayakawa (CV:Ishizuka Unshou), the butler who serves Minowa family and also the one who takes care of Hijiri.Tazuko (CV:Hikasa Youko), the principal in Hane’s school who is also the junior of Raimu-senpai.Saruyama Enko (CV:Aranami Kazusa), the teacher on Hane’s school who later become the advisor of motorcycle club.Onsa’s father (CV:Iwata Mitsuo), The owner of Nikoichi Motorcycle Shop who sells used motorcycle, often in a bad condition with Odometer reset.Rin’s father (CV:Miki Shinichiro), A proud rider of Suzuki Katana 1135R whose face is unknown as he always wear helmet just like Raimu-senpai.

The voice acting is generally good but not good enough to be consider very good in overall. If you noticed, Touyama, Uchiyama, and Yamaguchi all have “Yama” in their name. So, we got triple mountains in this anime. However, Ueda Reina is my favorite here even without “Yama” in her name. She sounds really innocent and cute. Live up to Hane’s personality nicely.

Closing Thoughts
This anime has a very interesting story with some very good materials. This anime is very worth to watch due to its unique story. Animation, Music, sound effect, characters, and voice acting is generally good. Overall, I would consider this anime very good because the story really delivers some fresh humor that you won’t find in other anime. Truly the funniest anime of 2016. So, watching this anime is definitely not a waste of time.

Story

8

Animation

8

Sounds & Musics

8

Characters

8

Voice Acting

7

Overall

8

Rated as

Very Good

Pros(+) Outstanding Comedy
(+) Original and Creative
(+) Based on real worlds motorcycles and accesories